Hollywood isn't kind to it's child stars. Back in the early 80's, Corey Haim had so much potential as a tween/teen star. For a brief moment, it seemed like he was everywhere. Huge pictures of Corey (often with pal Corey Feldman) graced the covers of magazines like Tiger Beat and Seventeen. But Corey also grew up with some problems, including a recurring drug habit (I think I read he went to rehab about 15 times). So, while not really surprising, Corey Haim passed away, from an apparent drug overdose. Sad.
I choose to remember him in the role I loved most, as Sam from the movie The Lost Boys (allllll the way back in 1987). Fun fact: the shots in the "comic book store" were filmed in the old location of Atlantis Fantasyworld in Santa Cruz, CA (where I worked throughout college).
News of MTV's rebranding today makes me feel old. After 20+ years, it's dropping the "music television" reference in the logo and just becoming MTV (see new logo on the right). Granted, they haven't been playing videos in years, but somehow this seems like the end of an era.
Now, I'm going to totally date myself here, but I have treasured memories of discovering MTV for the first time while visiting my parents' friends in Seattle, with their amazing cable package and big screen TV. This was probably around 1982 or 83. I loved music as a kid, and the addition of visual stimuli really grabbed my impressionable mind.
The format was simple -- music videos 24 hours a day/7 days a week. I don't want to do the entire stroll down memory lane, as that's what Wikipedia does, better than I could. MTV was a critical cultural influence (besides mainstream video, remember 120 minutes, Yo! MTV Raps, Headbangers Ball, and animated features like Liquid Television, Beavis and Butthead, Aeon Flux, and Daria?), and while it still is, the goal and focus of their programming has really changed.
So I guess it shouldn't come as a total shock that MTV would want to get a new image for a new decade, and a new generation. But it makes me a little misty-eyed to see the MTV that I knew go the way of the do do. And that makes me feel really old.
MTV's first video was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" and apparently, now the Video Star is dead too.
This geek loves some indie films, so it was disappointing to see that Disney is apparently closing up shop on Miramax. Perhaps the sell-off from the Weinstein's to Disney was a bad call.
It's too bad, since Miramax used to put out some great movies.
How about this gem? (I might need to watch this again; it's been too long. I mean Samuel L. Jackson is just fantastic.)
Or this one, pretty much part of the geek canon.
And this one, from the Coen Brothers and j'dore most all of their films.
Anyway, you can look over the whole Miramax catalog on iMDb and toast the end of an era.
I was sad to see the news of J.D. Salinger's death. I was a big fan of his books as a young adult (weren't we all?). He might be the first author I tried to read every book I could find. While "Catcher in the Rye" was an obvious one for the teenager in me, I think I really enjoyed "Franny & Zooey" and "Nine Stories." I think I still have copies of all those books, somewhere in storage. It might be time to read them again and see how the hold up as an adult.
Sandcastles & Succulents: Exploration of research, creativity and contemplations of interesting bits and bobs.
Undercover Geek Girl: This was my effort to channel all those useless thoughts and nerdy interests in one place.
